Today's readings are 1 Kings 18.20-40 and Ephesians 2.1-22.
In our reading from 1 Kings today we see Elijah and the prophets of Baal coming face to face. Rather, we see God and Baal coming face to face. There's just one problem. The Lord is the God who makes man in his own image and who has created everything to serve and obey him. Baal is the god who is made in man's image, who did not create anything, is not living, and cannot communicate in any way. This doesn't seem like any sort of a fair match, does it.
Even when Elijah adjusts the scales in favor of the Baal worshipers, it is still not a fair match. The Baal worshipers get to choose their bull first. They get their choice of wood. Their wood is kept dry, while Elijah has his soaked with water. There are 450 Baal worshipers on the one side versus Elijah on the other side. The Baal worshipers pray for a long time, making tremendous personal sacrifices. Surely if prayer were answered because of the commitment or multiplicity of the people praying, the Baal worshipers would win the contest.
Baal does not answer. Baal cannot answer. No matter how hard the people who are serving a false god try, they will not have a response. Their god is no god at all. Baal is not only asleep, on a trip, relieving himself, or momentarily being inattentive, as Elijah suggests. Baal isn't real.
How many times our society tries to pray to a false god, one of their own imagination. How many times people think that simply because they can get a large number of people agreeing to a falsehood it must be all right. How often we have tried to count sincerity and commitment as equivalent to being right. None of this is correct.
Elijah, against all human odds, against the laws of nature, prays to the true and living God, who is ready, able, and willing to answer. Jesus says that if we ask anything in his name, that is, according to his will, he will do it. What is God's will as revealed in Christ? Let us ask it boldly. We are asking of the living God who has promised to hear and answer our prayers.
In our reading from 1 Kings today we see Elijah and the prophets of Baal coming face to face. Rather, we see God and Baal coming face to face. There's just one problem. The Lord is the God who makes man in his own image and who has created everything to serve and obey him. Baal is the god who is made in man's image, who did not create anything, is not living, and cannot communicate in any way. This doesn't seem like any sort of a fair match, does it.
Even when Elijah adjusts the scales in favor of the Baal worshipers, it is still not a fair match. The Baal worshipers get to choose their bull first. They get their choice of wood. Their wood is kept dry, while Elijah has his soaked with water. There are 450 Baal worshipers on the one side versus Elijah on the other side. The Baal worshipers pray for a long time, making tremendous personal sacrifices. Surely if prayer were answered because of the commitment or multiplicity of the people praying, the Baal worshipers would win the contest.
Baal does not answer. Baal cannot answer. No matter how hard the people who are serving a false god try, they will not have a response. Their god is no god at all. Baal is not only asleep, on a trip, relieving himself, or momentarily being inattentive, as Elijah suggests. Baal isn't real.
How many times our society tries to pray to a false god, one of their own imagination. How many times people think that simply because they can get a large number of people agreeing to a falsehood it must be all right. How often we have tried to count sincerity and commitment as equivalent to being right. None of this is correct.
Elijah, against all human odds, against the laws of nature, prays to the true and living God, who is ready, able, and willing to answer. Jesus says that if we ask anything in his name, that is, according to his will, he will do it. What is God's will as revealed in Christ? Let us ask it boldly. We are asking of the living God who has promised to hear and answer our prayers.
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Dave Spotts
blogging at http://capnsaltyslongvoyage.blogspot.com
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